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Christ Church Halton (Methodist/United Reformed)
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September 2010
Thursday 2nd September
7.30pm Circuit United Service at Garforth to welcome Revd John Mason and including the Commissioning of Lay Employees Mrs Rachel Richards and Mr John Prior.
( Refreshments are being served in advance of the Service from 6.45pm)
Sunday 5th September
10.30am All Age Worship led by Mr Grenville Jensen
Saturday 11th September
2pm-4pm Messy Church - Friends
Sunday 12th September Racial Justice Sunday
10.30am Morning Worship led by Mrs Patricia van Lemmen (URC local preacher)
Sunday 19th September
10.30am Morning Worship led by Revd Robert Creamer
Sunday 26th September B2CS (Back to Church Sunday)
10.30am Morning Worship led by Revd Robert Creamer followed by Church Lunch
NB: Details of services held in previous weeks (on a rolling 4/5 weeks basis) can be found by looking at the Printed Notices
last updated 1st September 2010
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Local Ecumenical Partnership banner
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Christ Church, Halton extends a warm welcome to everyone interested in visiting our church for worship, fellowship, support and friendship.
If you are not familiar with our church we hope you will take time to visit us where you will be made most welcome. Being a Local Ecumenical Partnership church, in both Methodist and United Reformed traditions, we welcome people of any or no previous church affiliation to join with us in learning more about the Christian faith.
We have Junior Church who continue their own programme of learning, but are happy for those too young to join Junior Church to stay with their carer throughout the service. Children (accompanied by a parent/grandparent/carer) are also welcome at Messy Church on one Saturday afternoon a month.
We started this in February and it has proved very successful. You can see reports on our sessions so far and our programme up to Christmas 2010 on the News & Events page.
Letter from Matt
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'Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven: (Matthew 5: 15-16)
You can tell a lot about a person from the car they drive. Just yesterday I was following a car on the ring road and I could tell that the driver, assuming it was her car, supported Liverpool football club, had a baby and was a Christian. Another car I saw recently had me believing that the driver ws not averse to using the odd naughty word. How did I know this information? Because the stickers on their car windows told me. The cars were adorned in pictures and phrases that reflected something of the driver's characters and lives. We need to be careful with the fish stickers we put on our cars though. You may put a ‘baby on board’ sign in your car, and the words are perfectly true when there actually is a baby in your car, but not when there isn’t. When you put the Christian ‘ichthus’ fish on your car though you are identifying yourself as a Christian for all the world to see - and that, as we know, is no part-time commitment. A friend of mine was driving on a motorway one day driving as fast as he legally could (70 mph) when he was hurriedly overtaken by a minibus, which he says must have been doing more than 90 mph. Who should the bus belong to but The Jesus Army! Unless that bus had been stolen the driver was contradicting the identity, and I admit that mine may have too on occasion. If we want to identify ourselves with Jesus we need to make sure he can be seen in our actions as well as our words. So whether we are driving, walking, shopping - in fact whatever we do and wherever we are this Summer, as the sun shines down on us, so too may we let Jesus the Son shine through us.
God bless,
Matt, your lay worker
24th August 2010
(letter taken from the September issue of Contact)
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updated 25th August 2010
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Christ Church is a Local Ecumenical Partnership , under the sponsorship of WYEC (West Yorkshire Ecumenical Council), bringing together Halton Methodist Church and Halton United Reformed Church.
The two churches started worshipping together at Easter 1988. 'The congregations of Halton Methodist Church and Halton United Reformed Church united to become a Local Ecumenical Project known as Christ Church Halton. The first meeting of the Christ Church Council was held on July 20th 1989 and a celebratory service was held on October 1st 1989. On November 6th 1989 Halton URC agreed to ask their Trustees to offer the buildings and site for tender. Plans were made for a new £600,000 Christ Church Halton by JH Langtry-Langton and the builders were WV Patrick Ltd. The old chapel was closed on October 14th 1990 and the start of building was on May 5th 1992: the URC was demolished by September 1992. The takeover at the new church was on April 9th 1993 and the church opened on Easter Sunday 1993.' (extract reproduced with the permission of John Gilleghan MBE)
The former Methodist Church, which had the larger membership, was demolished in April 1991 to make way for the new Christ Church building. The former United Reformed Church was vacated in February 1992, the building and land being sold in order to invest the proceeds in the new building. Services and all associated activities, from March 1992 until the the new building was completed, were held in the local schools.
The two churches came together with a deep conviction that, if the church was to be a vital part of the community in Halton, new initiatives in mission were necessary. We believe that Christ was, and is still, calling us into this joint venture, that we may together worship, witness and serve in the midst of the neighbourhood in which we are situated (see our Mission Statement)
The Methodist tradition in Halton dates from 1810 and the Congregational (later part of the URC) from 1925. The extract above and a full account of all denominations in Halton and surrounding areas may be found under "Churches and Chapels" on pages 47-57 of local historian John Gilleghan's Halton: the story of an East Leeds Village (Leeds: Kingsway Press, 2004).
Past & Present Ministers of Christ Church
1986 Revd Marlene Wilkinson
1993 Revd Howard Smith
1995 Revd Keith Hunt
1996 Revd Ruth Crofton
2001 Revd Robert J Kitching
2006 Revd Georgina Brotherton
2008 Revd Joyce Nicholson (with grateful thanks from our congregation after her formal retirement as a Minister)
2009 Revd Robert Creamer
John Gilleghan's Halton has a list of ministers of the two churches prior to this period.
August 2009 (with slight amendments April 2010)
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LEEDS
Christ Church is a part of the Leeds East Methodist Circuit of the Leeds District of the Methodist Church but also part of the Leeds Mission and Care Group of the United Reformed Church (URC).
We also work with neighbour churches in both Churches Together in Leeds 15 and the One Voice group of churches of Halton, Halton Moor , Osmondthorpe and Richmond Hill e.g. All Saints , Corpus Christi , Gateway , Newbourne , St Philip and St Wilfrid .
OUTSIDE THE UK
We are generally considered to be an outward looking church. One factor which helps us to focus on this is the facility to hear first hand accounts not only from our own ministers, ex-ministers and members,young and not so young, actively involved with countries mentioned but also from visits by our partners overseas. This brings it all to vivid life. Listed below are six countries with which Christ Church has strong and enduring links:
Bangladesh via Commitment for Life
Ghana via the Wesley Guild of Methodist Church Ghana
India (the social work of Revd Chandru Hoolgeri in Bagalkot District, Karnataka State, South India) via Revd Keith Hunt , one of our ex-ministers and Margaret Webb (of Christ Church). We also have connections with Sethu Child Development and Family Guidance Centre in Goa through Sue & Roger Guy (also members of Christ Church).
Nigeria through the Nigeria Health Care Project and Methodist Church Nigeria and in particular through their Health and Medical Secretary, Deaconess Ronke Oworu . Her appointment (dealing solely with health and medical matters) has improved communications tremendously.
Since the inception of the Project in 1992, Christ Church Halton has been and continues to be the administrative and spiritual hub of the charity with the support of our Circuit and Leeds District.
Of the 23 current Trustees and Committee Members of NHCP no less than 8 are current or former church members at Christ Church. They are, in order of joining the Project, Peter Grubb (co-founder and Chair); Margaret Webb (Vice-Chair); Jack Liversidge (ex-Treasurer);Revd Ruth Crompton ; Brian Poulter (Secretary); Peter Young (Treasurer); Yvonne Thornton (Minutes Secretary) and most recently Sheila Staveley.
Methodist Church Nigeria honoured Peter Grubb and Margaret Webb in December 2006 by making them Knights of John Wesley at a ceremony at Willersley Castle in recognition of the work of the Project.
Romania via the White Rose Initiative (if you are interested see Joyce or Barrie Rudge for the Newsletter) and via Yorkshire Aid Convoy and lastly
Tonga Marlene Wilkinson , an ex-Minister of Christ Church, returned at the beginning of the year from service in Tonga and CC is one of her link churches.
Click her name (and scroll down on Leeds District's page) for her final link letters from Tonga to adults and to children.. Her visits to Christ Church can be found on the News & Events page .
OTHER OUTREACH
Christ Church is a Fairtrade Church and has been so for 8 years or so, has a Christian Aid team of collectors led by Dorothy Bacon (£1654.92 was collected in May) and sends shoeboxes for Christmas through Samaritan's Purse (150 boxes last year via Christ Church from us and our neighbouring churches).
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18th July 2010
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We believe that God is leading us to serve Christ through the guidance of the Holy Spirit:
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To meet regularly for worship and prayer
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To provide a community of peace, friendship and support for all ages
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To develop the spiritual and social growth of all associated with the partnership
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To maintain and develop relationships with our parent denominations and with other local churches
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To be a spiritual and social resource within the local community, working alongside other people of faith or of no faith
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To share in the pursuit of peace, justice and the integrity of creation.
It was for these reasons that the two participating churches, Halton Methodist Church and Halton United Reformed Church, came together out of a deep conviction that, if the church is to be a vital part of the community in Halton, then new initiatives in mission are necessary. (Constitution of Christ Church circa 1989)
(Christ Church also affirms the Leeds East Circuit Mission Statement below)
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We are a group of Churches and community projects working together and ecumenically in East Leeds.
Our purpose is to work for God's kingdom by maintaining Christian communities and places of worship and witness, supporting and overseeing the Churches in celebrating God's love for the world.
Empowered by God's Holy Spirit we affirm the gospel message of reconciliation and forgiveness.
We share gifts and resources as we work for God's justice, peace and equality for all people through outreach and mission. (approved at the Circuit Meeting 13th March 2008)
section amended 6th October 2009
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Full details of the many activities which take place at Christ Church(and the church and community groups who organise these) may be found on the Weekly at Christ Christ Church and Church & Community Groups pages. We do however also publish, at intervals, the Christ Church brochure in A5 format (4 pages).
Copies of this are to be found in the Church vestibule but can also be downloaded (below).
29th April 2010 TOP OF PAGE
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Directions to Christ Church
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The attached file gives directions for reaching Christ Church by car from most directions or by bus from the City Centre.
last updated October 2009 TOP OF PAGE
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Annual Review 2009-2010
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At the Church Annual General Meeting in June each year, officers are elected and the Church receives the Annual Review. This contains the agenda for the AGM, the Minister's report and a very short piece to reflect each part of church life (three A4 pages in total). Attached is the downloadable file in Adobe Acrobat format. A downloadable copy of the latest Annual Review is below
TOP OF PAGE 11th June 2010
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Some sections of our website are updated at weekly intervals or sooner - Service times, the Weekly Notices and the Calendar.
The remainder is updated as necessary. Each individual section should show when it has last been updated. Please notify the web administrator Brian Poulter of any errors, omissions or faulty links. Thank you.
2nd August 2010
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